wie testet man eine glutenunverträglichkeit — when to see a doctor?

Testing for gluten intolerance (celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity) requires medical evaluation. Self-testing with DNA kits or elimination diets is not sufficient. If celiac disease is suspected, a gastroenterologist should be consulted. The standard approach begins with a blood test for specific antibodies (tTG-IgA). If positive, a small intestine biopsy is needed to confirm. Crucially, a gluten-free diet must not be started before testing, as it can skew results. Genetic testing for HLA-DQ2/DQ8 can rule out celiac disease with high probability if negative, but a positive result only indicates predisposition, not disease. Consumer DNA tests like MyBody-X often lack clinical validation for gluten intolerance – they may report risk variants that are not diagnostic. For persistent symptoms (bloating, diarrhea, fatigue, rash), seeing a doctor is the only safe path. Evidence for medical diagnosis is strong (guideline-based), while consumer tests rely on weak or purely associative evidence.